Case Study
How Rabobank, Vattenfall and SBB created stronger data culture with Piano Analytics
Case Study
How Rabobank, Vattenfall and SBB created stronger data culture with Piano Analytics
Case Study
How Rabobank, Vattenfall and SBB created stronger data culture with Piano Analytics
Rabobank, SBB, and Vattenfall operate in different industries – banking, transportation, and energy. Yet they faced the same core challenge: as digital services expanded, data became fragmented, more difficult to use, and harder to trust.
Each organization set out to build a stronger analytics foundation – one that supports faster decisions, better insight, and governance that stands up against the highest privacy standards.
For more than a century, Swiss Federal Railways (SBB) has connected people across Switzerland and Europe – helping them get to work, visit loved ones, and explore the country. As travel habits shifted and digital channels became central to everyday journeys, SBB faced a familiar challenge: understanding how millions of customers interact across websites, mobile apps, and stations – and using that insight to improve the experience for everyone. SBB has gone through a major transformation – from fragmented data to a trusted foundation that teams across the organization rely on every day.
In our conversation with Lea Seiler, Head of Digital Data & Analytics at SBB, we explore how SBB built a strong data foundation – helping teams understand how customers plan, purchase, and travel, while staying true to its mission of bringing people together.
For more than a century, Swiss Federal Railways (SBB) has connected people across Switzerland and Europe – helping them get to work, visit loved ones, and explore the country. As travel habits shifted and digital channels became central to everyday journeys, SBB faced a familiar challenge: understanding how millions of customers interact across websites, mobile apps, and stations – and using that insight to improve the experience for everyone. SBB has gone through a major transformation – from fragmented data to a trusted foundation that teams across the organization rely on every day.
In our conversation with Lea Seiler, Head of Digital Data & Analytics at SBB, we explore how SBB built a strong data foundation – helping teams understand how customers plan, purchase, and travel, while staying true to its mission of bringing people together.
Challenges
Challenges
Challenges
Fragmented data and inconsistent definitions across teams
Fragmented data and inconsistent definitions across teams
Limited visibility into full
customer journeys
Limited visibility into full customer journeys
Limited visibility into full customer journeys
Analytics bottlenecks within
small analyst teams
Analytics bottlenecks within small analyst teams
Analytics bottlenecks within small analyst teams
Slow reporting cycles
that delayed action
Slow reporting cycles that delayed action
Rising privacy and
compliance requirements
Rising privacy and compliance requirements
Rising privacy and compliance requirements
Solutions and Results
Solutions and Results
Solutions and Results
1.
Within 3 months, together with Piano, Rabobank built a model that was unified, scalable, and capable of handling millions of interactions, while being GDPR-compliant.
Swiss Federal Railways (SBB) went from complex to centralized tracking across multiple digital and physical touchpoints – with standardized metrics and shared structure across teams.
Vattenfall aimed to build a strong experimentation culture but struggled with inconsistent processes within different teams. Using Piano, Vattenfall created a unified data catalogue, including metrics and their naming. This made experiments comparable – bringing more clarity and consistency to the process, with one experiment leading to a 16% conversion uplift and a six figure ROI.
One reliable source of truth
1.
Within 3 months, together with Piano, Rabobank built a model that was unified, scalable, and capable of handling millions of interactions, while being GDPR-compliant.
Swiss Federal Railways (SBB) went from complex to centralized tracking across multiple digital and physical touchpoints – with standardized metrics and shared structure across teams.
Vattenfall aimed to build a strong experimentation culture but struggled with inconsistent processes within different teams. Using Piano, Vattenfall created a unified data catalogue, including metrics and their naming. This made experiments comparable – bringing more clarity and consistency to the process, with one experiment leading to a 16% conversion uplift and a six figure ROI.
One reliable source of truth
1. One reliable source of truth
Within 3 months, together with Piano, Rabobank built a model that was unified, scalable, and capable of handling millions of interactions, while being GDPR-compliant.
Swiss Federal Railways (SBB) went from complex to centralized tracking across multiple digital and physical touchpoints – with standardized metrics and shared structure across teams.
Vattenfall aimed to build a strong experimentation culture but struggled with inconsistent processes within different teams. Using Piano, Vattenfall created a unified data catalogue, including metrics and their naming. This made experiments comparable – bringing more clarity and consistency to the process, with one experiment leading to a 16% conversion uplift and a six figure ROI.
2.
All three organizations created a connected view of how customers move across touchpoints.
Teams at Rabobank were able to identify friction points, validate changes, and improve conversions. For example, they discovered an 80% drop-off point in its car insurance application flow that traced to unnecessary login prompts.
SBB uncovered demand from audiences they hadn’t previously prioritized. This led SBB to create multilingual content to support travelers before they arrive in Switzerland.
Vattenfall used web and app journey insights to help teams pinpoint where users convert and where they drop off and detect issues, reducing incident response time by 90%.
Access to full customer journey
2.
All three organizations created a connected view of how customers move across touchpoints.
Teams at Rabobank were able to identify friction points, validate changes, and improve conversions. For example, they discovered an 80% drop-off point in its car insurance application flow that traced to unnecessary login prompts.
SBB uncovered demand from audiences they hadn’t previously prioritized. This led SBB to create multilingual content to support travelers before they arrive in Switzerland.
Vattenfall used web and app journey insights to help teams pinpoint where users convert and where they drop off and detect issues, reducing incident response time by 90%.
Access to full customer journey
2. Access to full customer journey
All three organizations created a connected view of how customers move across touchpoints.
Teams at Rabobank were able to identify friction points, validate changes, and improve conversions. For example, they discovered an 80% drop-off point in its car insurance application flow that traced to unnecessary login prompts.
SBB uncovered demand from audiences they hadn’t previously prioritized. This led SBB to create multilingual content to support travelers before they arrive in Switzerland.
Vattenfall used web and app journey insights to help teams pinpoint where users convert and where they drop off and detect issues, reducing incident response time by 90%.
3.
Features like Boards and Piano AI Reveal enabled SBB teams to answer questions independently with no technical knowledge. With less time spent pulling reports or explaining metrics, analysts could focus on working alongside teams, making data become part of everyday decision-making.
Vattenfall trained 120+ employees, saving 32 hours per month in manual reporting and enabling faster, more consistent experimentation across marketing and product teams.
Stronger data culture
3.
Features like Boards and Piano AI Reveal enabled SBB teams to answer questions independently with no technical knowledge. With less time spent pulling reports or explaining metrics, analysts could focus on working alongside teams, making data become part of everyday decision-making.
Vattenfall trained 120+ employees, saving 32 hours per month in manual reporting and enabling faster, more consistent experimentation across marketing and product teams.
Stronger data culture
3. Stronger data culture
Features like Boards and Piano AI Reveal enabled SBB teams to answer questions independently with no technical knowledge. With less time spent pulling reports or explaining metrics, analysts could focus on working alongside teams, making data become part of everyday decision-making.
Vattenfall trained 120+ employees, saving 32 hours per month in manual reporting and enabling faster, more consistent experimentation across marketing and product teams.
"
What we see is a lot of people using Piano Analytics in reports. In monthly sprint calls, we see screenshots of dashboards – it goes to show how easy it is to use and adopt in daily practice."
"
—
Anthony Derrick, Digital Analyst, Vattenfall
"
What we see is a lot of people using Piano Analytics in reports. In monthly sprint calls, we see screenshots of dashboards – it goes to show how easy it is to use and adopt in daily practice."
"
—
Anthony Derrick, Digital Analyst, Vattenfall
"
What we see is a lot of people using Piano Analytics in reports. In monthly sprint calls, we see screenshots of dashboards – it goes to show how easy it is to use and adopt in daily practice."
"
—
Anthony Derrick, Digital Analyst, Vattenfall
4.
At Rabobank, faster anomaly detection improved incident response time by 90%, helping teams resolve issues before they affected customers at scale.
At SBB, improved visibility supported digital sales growth by 29% CAGR and clearer prioritization of digital initiatives.
Faster decision-making
4.
At Rabobank, faster anomaly detection improved incident response time by 90%, helping teams resolve issues before they affected customers at scale.
At SBB, improved visibility supported digital sales growth by 29% CAGR and clearer prioritization of digital initiatives.
Faster decision-making
4. Faster decision-making
At Rabobank, faster anomaly detection improved incident response time by 90%, helping teams resolve issues before they affected customers at scale.
At SBB, improved visibility supported digital sales growth by 29% CAGR and clearer prioritization of digital initiatives.
5.
At Rabobank, a GDPR-compliant framework now supports millions of interactions, reducing regulatory risk while strengthening internal confidence in digital reporting and decision-making.
For SBB, strict data protection standards removed operational pressure and increased transparency. Teams can clearly explain what data is collected and how it’s processed.
At Vattenfall, structured governance across teams and markets ensures experimentation and optimization take place within a compliant framework, giving teams the freedom to move quickly while staying in control.
Privacy-first, compliant analytics
5.
At Rabobank, a GDPR-compliant framework now supports millions of interactions, reducing regulatory risk while strengthening internal confidence in digital reporting and decision-making.
For SBB, strict data protection standards removed operational pressure and increased transparency. Teams can clearly explain what data is collected and how it’s processed.
At Vattenfall, structured governance across teams and markets ensures experimentation and optimization take place within a compliant framework, giving teams the freedom to move quickly while staying in control.
Privacy-first, compliant analytics
5. Privacy-first, compliant analytics
At Rabobank, a GDPR-compliant framework now supports millions of interactions, reducing regulatory risk while strengthening internal confidence in digital reporting and decision-making.
For SBB, strict data protection standards removed operational pressure and increased transparency. Teams can clearly explain what data is collected and how it’s processed.
At Vattenfall, structured governance across teams and markets ensures experimentation and optimization take place within a compliant framework, giving teams the freedom to move quickly while staying in control.
When analytics is unified, accessible, and governed properly, teams can:
Trust the data
Understand customer journeys
Reduce operational risk
Move from reporting to action
Improve performance continuously
The result is a culture where data empowers confident decisions across every team.
Final words
When analytics is unified, accessible, and governed properly, teams can:
Trust the data
Understand customer journeys
Reduce operational risk
Move from reporting to action
Improve performance continuously
The result is a culture where data empowers confident decisions across every team.
Final words
When analytics is unified, accessible, and governed properly, teams can:
Trust the data
Understand customer journeys
Reduce operational risk
Move from reporting to action
Improve performance continuously
The result is a culture where data empowers confident decisions across every team.
Final words
Empower every team to understand and influence customer behavior.
Platform
Industries
Company
Empower every team to understand and influence customer behavior.
Platform
Industries
Company
Empower every team to understand and influence customer behavior.
Platform
Industries
Company